Is There any Non-Biblical Evidence that Jesus Existed?

Have you ever heard this argument before? It goes something like this: "I don't believe in Jesus because the only recorded accounts come from the Bible, which is already a biased document because of it's religious content".

Not only is this inaccurate (see the recorded accounts given below), but even if this were the case, there would still be more written about the life of Christ than was written about many of the Roman emperors and other historical figures that we take for granted.

The handful of historians listed below all lived around or close to the time of Jesus, and they were all non-christian writers. But guess what makes this interesting? They all recorded accounts of either Christ, or his group of followers (a.k.a. Christians). What this means is that there are in fact a good deal of non-biblical accounts that lend themselves as separate proofs that Jesus walked the earth in the 1st century. Lets look at 3 of these accounts below.

Josephus: a Jewish historian (AD 37 - 101), in his book Antiquities wrote, "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, (if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure). He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; (for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him). And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." **

Tacitus: (AD 55 - 117) was a Roman historian who says this in his work Annals, "Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular."

Pliny the Younger: governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor wrote to Emperor Trajan around AD 112, "They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."

OK, so what does all of this mean? Well, aside from these accounts being corroborative evidence for the life of Christ, it provided the following string of logic. A.) now that we know Jesus actually did exist, then B.) we need to make the choice: is He the Son of God or just a good teacher. C.) Once we arrive at the Truth that He was in fact from God, we need to listen to what He is telling us in the New Testament!

** some scholars debate whether the words in parenthesis in the account of Josephus are original, since they seem so favorable to Christ. This still of course represents an account of Jesus (even leaving out those sentances), and as such we can take it as a non-biblical proof.

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Not God... Just Aliens?!?!

Richard Dawkins is one of the world's most prominent and famous atheists. He has written a few books on the subject of science explaining away God. His most notable work is 'The God Delusion'. Penn Jillett (from Penn & Teller fame) has commented that if atheism had a Pope, it would be Richard Dawkins.

In Ben Stein's film 'Expelled', Dawkins is interviewed and asked about the possibility of Intelligent Design. Click on the video link below to hear Dawkins' response... I think you will be slightly amused. I know I was... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_Q1oTnJ_I

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The 10 Commandments... Do They Still Apply?

Remember these things?!?! Here is a quick review (and yes they DO still apply today). My own interpretation follows each item in parenthesis:

1.) You shall have no other gods before me (worship the one true God please!!!)

2.) You shall have no graven images (don't worship something man-made)

3.) Don't take the Lord's name in vain (use your own name to curse please, not "Jesus Christ"!)

4.) Remember the Sabbath (go to church on Sunday, not to work)

5.) Honor thy father and mother (respect your parents, after all they changed your diapers!!!)

6.) Thou Shalt not murder (this also means don't harbor anger toward someone else)

7.) Thou Shalt not commit adultery (this includes lusting in general!)

8.) Thou Shall not steal ('nuff said)

9.) Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor (no lying please, we have enough politicians already)

10.) Do not covet (appreciate what you have, you don't need your buddy's stuff)

The Law of Universal Morality

The Moral Law as proposed by C.S. Lewis

A.) Human Beings find within themselves, a law pressing down that wants to direct their actions to do “the right thing”.

B.) This is not evolutionary herd instinct: the desire to help someone in danger could very well be some time of herd preservation instinct, but not that thing which says, “you ought to help, whether you want to or not”. This is entirely different.

C.) Anyone who claims that there is no real Right or Wrong, if tested, will go back on this a moment later. He may break a promise to you, but try breaking a promise to him! He will be crying foul just as quickly as anyone else.

D.) Someone caught breaking this law, will usually attempt to explain away the reason they broke the law in the first place… they will NOT bother to discredit the law itself.

E.) Not just a learned behavior. The moral law can be taught by parents and teachers easy enough. But it was not INVENTED by them. It existed before there were parents and teachers, and will exist after. Consider from mathematics the multiplication table. 5 x 5 = 25, no matter what!

F.) Let’s consider levels of morality. The minute you make the statement that one set of morality is better or worse than another (Nazi Morality vs. Christian morality for example), then you are judging it against a higher standard. And this standard that measures these 2 things is DIFFERENT than either of the 2 propositions.

G.) Observations then: A.) the moral law must be something above and beyond the facts of human behavior. Besides behavior alone, you have something else – a real law which we did not invent, but know we ought to obey. B.) from this we can extrapolate that whatever is behind this law is something like a mind, and is concerned with fair play, unselfishness, truthfulness, and right conduct.

Some Points About Evolution

A.) As the theory of evolution has become more and more prominent in discussions nowadays, I should mention that something strange has happened, when the people who believe adamantly in evolution make the jump from science to philosophy. They leave the realm of the scientific, and begin to draw conclusions that put them into the realm of philosophy. Often their philosophy becomes a worldview, and when this occurs, they have firmly left the realm of the scientific-only.

B.) As such, I think the theory of Evolution proper has caused much confusion. And in particular, as it pertains to some folk using this theory to discredit Christianity -- I feel the need to mention that this is a complete Red Herring or distraction. As Dr. William Lane Craig has noted, Genesis 1 in the Bible leaves itself open to a wide range of interpretations, not necessarily counting out that one creature can give rise to another. The important thing comes into play when we discuss the point at which man received his “human-ness”. That is the real question, not what events preceded it.

C.) G.K. Chesterton relates this very well in his book The Everlasting Man. In it he reminds us that once we strip away all of the popular literature about what the cave-man may or may not have looked like, about what he may or may not have done; we are left with the actual evidence presented to us. One piece of evidence being the cave paintings of early man.

D.) Chesterton writes: “It is the simple truth that man does differ from the brutes in kind and not in degree; and the proof of it is here; that it sounds like a truism to say that the most primitive man drew a picture of a monkey and that it sounds like a joke to say that the most intelligent monkey drew a picture of a man…. Art is the signature of man”.

E.) Commenting on evolution again, Chesterton writes, “For in the plain matter like the pictures (meaning cave paintings) there is in fact not a trace of any such development or degree. Monkeys did not begin pictures and men finish them; Pithecanthropus did not draw a reindeer badly, and Homo Sapiens drew it well. The higher animals did not draw better and better portraits.”

F.) I would respectfully add to this (as both many scientists and philosophers have), that the scientific specifics of how man came to be man – strictly speaking - remain a mystery. To pretend that Darwin’s theory has solved it I suspect would make even Darwin blush. To debate about it too long demonstrates only that we have missed the point, or taken the path of misdirection. The important thing is that at some point in time; man became man, and no longer just an animal. The Bible addresses that truth, and reminds us that we exist in the image of God. Science and history simply give us time-lines and imaginative hypothesis.

Grand Opening!

Welcome to the Grand Opening of my new blog! I intend to use this site as a place to post all things important and necessary to spread the Truth of Christianity and Faith. Hopefully you will find the items contained herein to be useful and helpful. I also hope you will continue to check back as the blog grows and develops. Enjoy...

- Jon Klaus